Gretna City Council dispute is topic of inquiry to state attorney general

Gretna City Council dispute is topic of inquiry to state attorney general

by C.J. Lin, The Times-Picayune

Tuesday August 04, 2009, 8:32 PM

After two weeks of deliberation on the dispute between Gretna and the Louisiana secretary of state over the city's appointment of council members, the governor's office has tentatively sided with the city but has asked the state attorney general for a formal opinion on how to proceed.

Ellis Lucia, The Times-Picayune archiveState Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has been asked to provide opinions on three issues affecting the Gretna City Council.

In a letter sent Monday to Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, the governor's office requested an opinion on three issues: whether there were vacancies when the council terms expired; whether the council members' status as "holdovers" meant appointments were not needed; and whether the council acted properly in filling vacancies or if it was Gov. Bobby Jindal's responsibility to do so.

"These appointments appear to us to be proper, " wrote Tim Barfield, executive counsel for the governor's office. "However, if they were procedurally improper for any reason, then we believe the governor has the duty to declare the offices vacant and make the temporary appointments."

City Attorney Mark Morgan said he expects the attorney general to respond to the governor this week, although it may take that long just for the case to be assigned to an attorney, said Tammi Arender, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office.

"There's no way to gauge it, " said Arender, who added that Caldwell is out of the office this week. "So even if it's an expedited one, it won't be soon."

The question of vacancies has been an issue since Gretna declared its four district council seats vacant July 1 after April's elections were postponed pending federal approval of its redistricting plan. The city reappointed council members Vincent Cox, Belinda Constant and Raylyn Beevers and drew controversy when it replaced 1st District Councilman Jonathan Bolar with Milton L. Crosby.

Rusty Costanza/The Times-Picayune archiveJonathan Bolar is still recognized as a member of the Gretna City Council by Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.

"It's the governor's responsibility to make appointments if in fact, there are vacancies, " Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said. "Which is why even if there were vacancies, it wasn't in the council's power to act."

Dardenne has refused to issue commissions and maintains that there were no vacancies, since according to state law, the council members would have continued to serve until their successors were elected. He still officially recognizes Bolar as an officeholder.

But the city has argued that the council seats became vacant the first day of the new term if no elections were held and that the governing body could appoint interim officials.

"The city had to do what it did, " Morgan said. "It didn't have a choice."

Barfield said Dardenne did not fully address all issues or properly interpret the applicable laws in a July 7 letter Dardenne sent to the city saying that he was returning the council members' oaths of office and explaining why he would not issue new commissions.

"A proper application of those rules leads us to the conclusion that the Council has acted properly within its authority, thus no action of the Governor is called for, " Barfield wrote.

Dardenne had separately requested an opinion from Caldwell on July 24 and expects his request to be consolidated with that of the governor's office.

"We certainly think that we are interpreting the law and jurisprudence correctly and that there is not a vacancy, " Dardenne said. "We certainly disagree with the position that Gretna has urged, and therefore respectfully disagree with the governor's conclusion agreeing with the city."